1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for buyers and sellers of goods or services to engage in commerce. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for requesting, quoting, selling and purchasing goods or services through a user interface, such as a web browser, providing users with the option of selecting direct or indirect sales channels for goods or services from a single point of purchase.
2. Description of Background Art
Buyers in need of goods and services often spend considerable time locating an appropriate vendor. Buyers typically use trade publications, directories, recommendations, and other means to locate vendors. If the type of vendor needed is in a foreign country, the problem compounds. Vendors advertise through various media and by direct sales methods to make known to potential buyers what they sell and how to contact them. Once a buyer identifies a few vendors, each must be contacted to obtain product or service price and availability information. In addition, when buyers must sell surplus inventory from time to time they must advertise, cold call, sell to brokers or the like. These processes are costly, require experienced personnel and are time consuming for most businesses.
The market for goods and services in various industries is becoming increasingly global, with orders for such goods or services originating from several countries. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a quick and efficient way to order products or services through a global network of computers, such as those connected to each other via the Internet. The Internet is a collection of interconnected (public and/or private) networks that are linked together by a set of standard protocols, such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol to form a global, distributed network. While this term is intended to refer to what is now commonly known as the Internet, it is also intended to encompass variations which may be made in the future, including changes and additions to existing standard protocols.
Online transactions are fairly cheaper than traditional channels and means of doing business. For example, a bank may charge on average one dollar for each transaction (such as every day transactions, from verifying the balance of a checking or savings account, to withdrawal of money from a local bank), versus an average of seven cents that it costs to do the same transaction on an online bank. For this reason, Internet and online trading is expected to grow significantly.
Vendors seeking to utilize the Internet to sell their products or services have provided buyers with direct access to a database of their products or services through the Internet. This practice has been utilized with various types of businesses, for instance, in the electronic components industry. For example, large corporations, such as IBM and Motorola, have direct access to databases and the sales systems of their respective suppliers and distributors for satisfying their procurement needs. The prior art describes computerized shopping systems which employ some kind of central database of goods and services offered to buyers. Information about the goods and services offered is stored centrally. In such systems a vendor provides its database of goods and/or services to a buyer who orders items from the vendor's database. It is analogous to walking into a vendor's store and selecting items from the vendor's available stock.
In other prior art systems a number of vendors combine to offer their collective inventory to buyers through individual databases or a combined database of available goods or services. In yet another existing system a primary seller, such as an insurance agency, offers to provide to buyers premium quotations from the insurance carriers for which the agency is an agent.
Two methods of offering goods or services over the Internet are the direct ordering model and the indirect ordering model. As referred to herein, a“direct” ordering model involves dealing directly and non-anonymously with the entity that actually owns stock on the goods or services, such as a stocking distributor or a manufacturer. In the direct ordering model, a buyer requests quotations from and/or purchases a line-item or a group of line-items directly from a stocking seller. More specifically, after completing a search in a goods or service database, the buyer is provided with search results on a display. Each search result line-item provides information about the queried item, including the identity of the stocking distributor.
Another type of product or service ordering method utilizes an indirect sales channel. One such indirect sales channel may be provided via a brokerage service. Other examples of indirect sales channels might include an agent service, market-maker service, or any other named service that sources and/or purchases from a seller and resells to a buyer. As referred herein, a brokerage service is often used to exemplify an indirect sales channel and includes any service that involves brokering a deal between a buyer and a seller. Under one exemplary model, a broker charges a price markup for buying goods from a seller and, in turn, reselling them to a buyer. Typically, direct- and indirect-ordering models are viewed as inconsistent and non-complimentary business models, not to be presented together in a business's revenue stream. As a result, direct and brokerage sale models have been applied mutually exclusive of each other. Businesses that offer part search results either enable the SKU (stock keeping unit) line item purchase through direct sale or through brokerage sale, but do not offer both options for every line item. In other words, businesses that offer line item SKU's using a brokerage model avoid using a direct model on these same line items because it is viewed as cannibalizing from the brokerage sale revenue stream. Conversely, businesses that offer line item SKU's using a direct model avoid a brokerage model on these same line items, because it is viewed as detracting from the direct sale revenue stream.
In either the direct or indirect ordering models, products or services may be ordered over the Internet by paying a membership and/or transaction fees. In a typical prior art system, a website enables member buyers to search for electronic component part number(s) that they are trying to locate on the database of aggregated distributor inventories. Upon executing the search, the website currently provides the buyer with results showing them the corresponding distributors names that have stock on line-items. The buyers can then click on the distributor name to retrieve their contact information, and contact them directly to request a quotation using traditional methods.
The following sites provide the distributor name on some or all line-items. However, these sites do not provide a link that provides online pricing and/or order entry (“transaction”/ “shopping cart program”) either via communication with or at the distributor's own web site. Additionally, none of these sites provide brokerage services:
Services such as those operating under the names Broker Forum ChipSource; Electronet Supply View; IC Source Microline; ChipCenter and CNET offer links such that after user has selected an item to buy, online pricing and/or order entry is provided (“transaction”/“shopping cart program”) either via communication with or at the distributor's own web site. However, these sites also do not offer a brokerage service. The need2Buy site provides a reverse auction whereby a user can submit RFQ's (Requests for Quotation) and get back competitive bids from some select distributors and/or their own brokerage service, but fails to provide the name of the distributor associated with each line-item. PartMiner provides the distributor name on some line-items. On some line-items, this site provides a link for their brokerage service. However, this site does not offer the name of distributor associated with each line-item.
Providing an indirect purchase method option and direct purchase method option together for each line-item in a single point of purchase (POP) has not been done in the past. This is because, as noted previously, businesses have traditionally been interested in securing revenues from one revenue stream or the other and have not been interested in giving the buyer the choice a buying method that suits their need.
The present invention provides a sourcing tool for purchasers of various goods, including, by way of nonlimiting example, for industrial purchasers of electronic components. The system of the present invention offers a search engine for searching for line-items from distributors of electronic components worldwide. The system of the present invention also allows purchasers to select between an indirect purchase method and a direct purchase method for each line item offered from a single point of purchase. The system of the present invention optionally further provides the ability for purchasers to generate automated quotation requests for selected components.
Buyers or sellers may use the system of the present invention by filling out an HTML registration form. After the registration form is submitted, the buyer or seller is given an account number to login and use the system. Sellers may, for example, upload their inventory information to the system database. In the registration form, the sellers may select the type of distributorship they represent. After registering with the system, the sellers can upload their inventory listing via e-mail, online upload, diskette, or a variety of other methods. Buyers can search the system's database for inventory information from franchised and independent distributors.